We present a local setup for the recently introduced BRST-invariant formulation of Yang-Mills theories for linear covariant gauges that takes into account the existence of gauge copies `a la Gribov and Zwanziger. Through the convenient use of auxilia
ry fields, including one of the Stueckelberg type, it is shown that both the action and the associated nilpotent BRST operator can be put in local form. Direct consequences of this fully local and BRST-symmetric framework are drawn from its Ward identities: (i) an exact prediction for the longitudinal part of the gluon propagator in linear covariant gauges that is compatible with recent lattice results and (ii) a proof of the gauge-parameter independence of all correlation functions of local BRST-invariant operators.
We study the Gribov problem within a Hamiltonian formulation of pure Yang-Mills theory. For a particular gauge fixing, a finite volume modification of the axial gauge, we find an exact characterization of the space of gauge-inequivalent gauge configurations.
Recently, based on a new procedure to quantize the theory in the continuum, it was argued that Singers theorem points towards the existence of a Yang-Mills ensemble. In the new approach, the gauge fields are mapped into an auxiliary field space used
to separately fix the gauge on different sectors labeled by center vortices. In this work, we study this procedure in more detail. We provide examples of configurations belonging to sectors labeled by center vortices and discuss the existence of nonabelian degrees of freedom. Then, we discuss the importance of the mapping injectivity, and show that this property holds infinitesimally for typical configurations of the vortex-free sector and for the simplest example in the one-vortex sector. Finally, we show that these configurations are free from Gribov copies.
I review results recently obtained within the Hamiltonian approach to Yang-Mills theory in Coulomb gauge. In particular, I will present results for the ghost and gluon propagators and compare these with recent lattice data. Furthermore, I will give a
n interpretation of the inverse of the ghost form factor as the dielectric function of the Yang-Mills vacuum. Our ansatz for the vacuum wave functional will be checked by means of functional renormalization group flow equations, which are solved for the gluon energy and the ghost form factor. Finally, we calculate the Wilson loop for the vacuum wave functional obtained from the variational approach, using a Dyson equation.
I briefly review results obtained within the variational Hamiltonian approach to Yang-Mills theory in Coulomb gauge and confront them with recent lattice data. The variational approach is extended to non-Gaussian wave functionals including three- and
four-gluon kernels in the exponential of the vacuum wave functional and used to calculate the three-gluon vertex. A new functional renormalization group flow equation for Hamiltonian Yang--Mills theory in Coulomb gauge is solved for the gluon and ghost propagator under the assumption of ghost dominance. The results are compared to those obtained in the variational approach.